Leaving on the assignment turned out to be a little more awkward than that, because apparently Tareth had been hoping that Zae Zin Nim would come along. Kai couldn't blame him: she looked like she was nearly at the level of the Diamond Crystalliers, while he had only just broken 200 Power. But Zae Zin Nim was still paranoid about the Brightwind cultivators finding her and wouldn't budge, so Kai went alone and considered it a chance to prove himself.
In a city where almost everyone floated on crystals, Tareth just ran through the streets. This didn't seem to stop him from talking in the slightest, so he told Kai about the situation along the way.
"We're not out to kill anybody. These are honorable merchants and crystalliers who have allies, and those allies will cause serious trouble if we maim them. But they're pissed and I don't think they'll be holding back with us, which is why I needed strong fighters."
"How many are we talking?" Kai asked.
"It's an alliance of three different merchants, so they'll have at least that many crystalliers, maybe more." Tareth managed to shrug even while thumping down the street. "That isn't the worst of it. We also have to make absolutely sure not to anger the foreigners. They're causing trouble and snooping around, but Suortril is trying to toady up to them, so he's backing everything they say."
Most likely they could back themselves up with raw power, but Kai understood the balance. But he already had experience with this sort of fight in Romastir, and this time he wouldn't be using solely his human power. This was his chance to prove himself so that Tareth would take him along on the most dangerous mission.
Their path proved to be an arc through Yulthens that picked up two more fighters who Tareth seemed to trust. One was an old woman covered in scars, with a Power rating around 180, but Kai saw her high Soul Level and assumed she was skilled. The second was a young man only a few years older than him, with a little over 200 Power mostly in crystal cultivation.
That made four of them, which was a formidable force including the Diamond Crystallier. Still, as they ran toward the city gates, Kai wondered how they would fare against the Brightwind cultivators. He was hopeful that he could hold his own now, but he wasn't confident in his two new allies.
When they got close, Kai saw that the problem was actually visible in the sky above: a flying ship was attempting to cross over the city wall. One of the five great crystals had it bound in place with some sort of qi ray, but there were crystal cultivators on board trying to disrupt that ray enough to pass.
"Alright, this is it." Tareth threw several levitating crystals at the others, which pulled their group high into the sky alongside the ship. Kai managed well enough, then followed the others in jumping onto the deck.
And immediately realized that they were outnumbered.
He only saw a few merchants and sailors on the deck, but there were at least eight crystalliers. All of them were relatively weak, close to ratings of 100 Power, but they represented a significant percentage of the total crystalliers in the city. As soon as they saw Tareth, they began manifesting crystal weapons and armor.
"All of you are in violation of Yulthens law!" Tareth spoke in a normal voice, yet it seemed to dominate all other sounds. "If you haven't stolen anything, you have nothing to fear. But if we don't maintain the lockdown long enough to find the real thief, there will be serious consequences and everyone will suffer."
"We're suffering now!" one of the crystalliers shouted. "This wait will ruin us!"
"You should bring that up with Mercantile Central. Trying to break out is an act of war."
"Don't bother talking." One of the older crystalliers made a wild gesture to the others. "They're here to bring us all in. We fight for our freedom or we fall here!"
The crystalliers stopped struggling against the crystal and stepped forward as one. They would certainly be a threat in formation like that, but as they marshaled their strength, Tareth took a deep breath and then shouted.
"Enough!"
His shout tore through the air as a visible shockwave. All the crystalliers took a step back, two fell over, and several weapons being formed exploded into a shower of crystals. While they were all stunned, Tareth leapt into the center of the group. When his foot hit the ground, the stomp released another shockwave that drove the group apart.
Damn. Kai joined him to try to subdue the group, but he was impressed. Apparently that was what the Spellword class could do, or at least a very powerful version of it.
One of the weaker crystalliers, a young woman who had a lot of crystals but almost no Physique, was Kai's first target. He grabbed her weapon while she was stunned and threw it off the side of the ship. When she tried to punch him, he easily caught her wrist and twisted her down onto the deck.
Before he could finish things, a hail of qi struck his side, drawing small cuts all along his torso. Kai glanced to the source and realized he'd made a tactical error: instead of attacking a lone crystallier, he should have thrown himself into those who were still grouped up, because they were the bigger problem. His allies were struggling to contain the others, which meant that he was open to more attacks.
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The problem was that defeating someone without killing them was more challenging. It looked like the old woman was managing to keep two crystalliers fully engaged by dodging around them, but the young man was struggling just to overcome one. Tareth was shouting down several, which left more to gang up on Kai.
Instead of trying to pin her to the ground, Kai lifted the crystallier he was fighting into the air and hurled her at the rest. One went down in a tumble and the others stopped launching qi attacks, which gave him time to close the distance.
Kai saw that one opponent had a necklace carrying his crystal core and reached out to grab it. As soon as he did so, qi began to rush from the core, trying to fight him back, but actually tearing it away had never been Kai's plan. He ignored the minor cuts and just pulled the necklace closer at the same time he swung forward. His headbutt dropped the crystallier to the deck.
Meanwhile, Tareth had turned back to keep his other allies from being overwhelmed. That left a whole group recovering from his shout, working together on something new. Qi was flowing between them, gathering into some sort of large crystal hand in the air overhead.
So Kai swung a Tyrant's Claw through it. The formation shattered and rained down over the city below, while all the crystalliers who had been forming it turned toward him in shock.
Before Kai could attack them, he sensed someone rushing at his side. The man was stealthy, but ever since breaking through, Kai had been highly attuned to energy, especially qi. He turned in time to see another crystallier lunging with crystal armor forming around him.
This one was admittedly fast - his armor formed before Kai could strike his weakness - and it didn't seem like he was a lazy crystallier coasting on purchased crystals. Kai caught the man's punch by the wrist, then grabbed his other hand.
That left the two of them straining in the center of the deck. Kai's opponent continued building up his armor, increasing his strength by the second... but Kai didn't budge. He was almost as surprised as the others. Even though his opponent was using a huge amount of qi to expand his armor, Kai could feel Direboar's Strength rising in response. Now that his body was doubly reinforced by mana and qi, he couldn't be overpowered by someone who was just applying a lot of energy.
Of course, being locked in place meant that he inspired a storm of qi attacks from the other free crystalliers. Kai had been planning to simply endure them and regenerate the small wounds, only to find that they were dissipating against his skin.
At first he thought that these attackers were simply weaker, then he realized that Behemoth's Heart had strengthened itself to a gamma-rank threat. As he pushed his opponent back, Kai began to laugh.
It wasn't that he had developed an insane adaptation ability, only that all his work was paying off. In order to create Behemoth's Heart, he had consumed monsters with powerful defensive abilities, including a spiritual aura from the Shademonger. Long ago he'd gained enough strength to avoid being torn apart by Class abilities and now that defense had evolved enough to shrug off weak attacks entirely.
Kai swept his armored opponent's leg and drove him to the deck of the ship, then turned on the others. He didn't bother to dodge or block, he just started wading through all their qi attacks. They stared in horror and shot out more beams, but they only slowed him a little. Some of them tickled and his skin was getting warmer - that was all.
"Down!" Tareth unleashed another bellow that crossed the deck like a physical force. Kai winced slightly as it pierced his ears, but it was worse for everyone else.
Already worn and intimidated, the crystalliers went down like sacks of grain. Some were unconscious and others just looked petrified, but they weren't a threat. Kai turned back to check on the others and compliment Tareth, only to find the Diamond Crystallier looking at him oddly.
"I admit I underestimated you," Tareth said in a low voice. Abruptly he laughed and clapped Kai on the shoulder. "You said your work would pay off and I guess it sure did! More than earned that advanced pay, haha!"
"Do we have this taken care of?" Kai asked. It looked like the old woman was wrestling down one last opponent while their fourth teammate sat nursing wounds.
"We'll throw them in a cell and let the merchants worry about the consequences. The important thing is that their attempt was broken. Now anyone else thinking about trying the same thing will think again instead of starting a rush out of the city."
"But the next threat is going to be worse, isn't it?"
Tareth stared down at him, all laughter gone, and after a moment of thought leaned in and spoke more quietly. "They're almost certain who the real thief is now, and it's going to be bad. Soon enough leadership is going to send us in, and when they do I'll definitely want you fighting with me."
"What exactly is it?" Kai glanced toward the fallen crystalliers, then back. "I know it's supposed to be a secret, but if you tell me I can try to prepare."
"And I guess we've seen how good your preparations are." This barely pulled a chuckle from Tareth, though. "Don't tell anyone, but... they say Omilaena the Maneater stole from both the foreigners and Suortril. Some are calling for her head, and if they have their way, this is going to be bloody."
"We're really going to fight Omilaena?" Kai winced as he remembered their encounter. "I haven't fought her, but she's the most powerful poison user I've ever seen. I'm not sure anyone in Yulthens can fight her on equal terms, so you'd better find some powerful allies."
"You think Diamond Crystalliers aren't used to fighting stronger opponents? In any case, we don't have a choice. If we don't move against her, someone less competent will and it will turn bloody."
That was definitely bad, practically war between cities. After telling Tareth everything he could guess about Omilaena's fighting style, Kai stepped away and considered the problem while the defeated crystalliers were all bound and led away. It sounded like mercantile and political agendas were all tangled together, plus the Brightwind cultivators were involved and out for blood. He couldn't do much about that, only hope his own power was sufficient. As risky as it was to go fight her, without him he thought they stood no chance.
During the fight, Kai judged his performance a little below Tareth's. Obviously the older man had more human strength, but Kai thought that he might be able to approach some of the Diamond Crystalliers if he could develop his monstrous strength to equal levels.
The problem was, if they were going up against Omilaena, that might not be enough.